The 2018-2020 Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna will be leading poetry residencies, workshops, and public readings in Okanogan County in late September.

In 1981 as a teen, Castro Luna fled war-stricken El Salvador and immigrated to the United States with her family, later earning an MFA in poetry and an MA in urban planning. She now writes and teaches in English and Spanish in Seattle.

“As the first immigrant and woman of color to assume the role, Castro Luna will be advocating for poetry during a particularly fraught period for both the humanities (the current administration proposed eliminating the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities early this year) and immigrant populations, who are confronting uncertainty in the face of travel bans and heated rhetoric,” notes Humanities Washington, which sponsors the Washington State Poet Laureate program with ArtsWA.

In addition to teaching a poetry workshop for the public on Tuesday, September 25 from 5-6:30pm [at Rod Weagant’s Studio, 109-A Glover St. in downtown Twisp, WA] and holding a public reading on Thursday, September 27 [at Trails End Bookstore in Winthrop, WA] Castro Luna will lead poetry residencies for students at Liberty Bell Junior/Senior High, Okanogan Middle/High, and Brewster Junior/Senior High.

Castro Luna succeeds former WA State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall, who visited Okanogan County and the Methow Valley several times to work with students and members of the public.